Peoria (tribe)
Encyclopedia
The Peoria people are a Native American tribe. Today they are enrolled in the federally recognized Peoria Tribe of Indians of Oklahoma. Historically, they were part of the Illinois Confederation.
-speaking people, whose ancestors came from what is now Illinois
, Michigan
, Missouri
, and Ohio
. Once thought to be descendants of the Cahokia
Mississippian culture
of Moundbuilders, they are now believed to be related to Algonquian-speaking peoples of the Great Lakes and East Coast. The Peoria were one of the many Illinois
tribes encountered by the explorers, Father Jacques Marquette
and Louis Jolliet
. French Jesuit missionaries converted tribal members to Roman Catholicism. Father Jacques Gravier
, superior of the Illinois mission, compiled the most extensive dictionary
of Kaskaskia Illinois-French terms, nearly 600 pages and 20,000 entries.
The Peoria migrated southwest into Missouri Territory
after 1763. In 1818, the Treaty of Edwardsville included the cession of Peoria lands in Illinois to the United States. By the 1832 Treaty of Lewisville, they ceded Missouri
lands in exchange for land in Kansas
, near the Osage River
.
Infectious disease
, to which they had no natural immunity
, and intertribal wars drastically reduced the tribe's numbers. Members of the Kaskaskia
, Peoria, Piankeshaw
, and Wea
tribes formed a confederacy under the Peoria name. After the Civil War
, most of the confederated tribe signed the 1867 Omnibus Treaty. By this means, the US government purchased land from the Quapaw
tribe and relocated the majority of the Peoria tribe to Indian Territory
, now part of Oklahoma.
Under the Dawes Act
and Curtis Act of 1898
, the US government attempted to make individual allotments of land to heads of families, to allow separate ownership and cultivation of land, and break up the common landholdings of the tribes. It was part of an effort to have the tribes assimilate to European-American ways. At the same time, they forced tribal governments to dismantle. In 1939, after passage of the Oklahoma Indian Welfare Act
, the tribe reorganized and re-established its traditional form of council government.
During the 1950s, the US government pursued a policy of Indian termination
to end its special relationship with tribes. It dissolved the Peoria tribal government, which lost federal recognition in 1959. Tribal members objected and began the process to regain federal recognition, which they achieved in 1978.
, and their tribal jurisdictional area is in Ottawa County
. Of the 2,861 enrolled tribal members, only 764 live within the state of Oklahoma. John P. Froman is the tribe's elected Chief, currently serving a four-year term. The tribe issues its own vehicle tags and operates its own housing authority. The Peoria Tribes owns Peoria Ridge Golf Course, and two casinos. The estimated annual economic impact of the tribe is $50 million. Tribal businesses, the Peoria Gaming Center, Buffalo Run Casino and Hotel, and Joe's Outback are all located in Miami, Oklahoma.
History
The Peoria are AlgonquianAlgonquian languages
The Algonquian languages also Algonkian) are a subfamily of Native American languages which includes most of the languages in the Algic language family. The name of the Algonquian language family is distinguished from the orthographically similar Algonquin dialect of the Ojibwe language, which is a...
-speaking people, whose ancestors came from what is now Illinois
Illinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
, Michigan
Michigan
Michigan is a U.S. state located in the Great Lakes Region of the United States of America. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....
, Missouri
Missouri
Missouri is a US state located in the Midwestern United States, bordered by Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska. With a 2010 population of 5,988,927, Missouri is the 18th most populous state in the nation and the fifth most populous in the Midwest. It...
, and Ohio
Ohio
Ohio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...
. Once thought to be descendants of the Cahokia
Cahokia
Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site is the area of an ancient indigenous city located in the American Bottom floodplain, between East Saint Louis and Collinsville in south-western Illinois, across the Mississippi River from St. Louis, Missouri. The site included 120 human-built earthwork mounds...
Mississippian culture
Mississippian culture
The Mississippian culture was a mound-building Native American culture that flourished in what is now the Midwestern, Eastern, and Southeastern United States from approximately 800 CE to 1500 CE, varying regionally....
of Moundbuilders, they are now believed to be related to Algonquian-speaking peoples of the Great Lakes and East Coast. The Peoria were one of the many Illinois
Illinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
tribes encountered by the explorers, Father Jacques Marquette
Jacques Marquette
Father Jacques Marquette S.J. , sometimes known as Père Marquette, was a French Jesuit missionary who founded Michigan's first European settlement, Sault Ste. Marie, and later founded St. Ignace, Michigan...
and Louis Jolliet
Louis Jolliet
Louis Jolliet , also known as Louis Joliet, was a French Canadian explorer known for his discoveries in North America...
. French Jesuit missionaries converted tribal members to Roman Catholicism. Father Jacques Gravier
Jacques Gravier
Jacques Gravier was a French Jesuit missionary in the New World. He founded the Illinois mission in 1696, where he administered to the several tribes of the territory...
, superior of the Illinois mission, compiled the most extensive dictionary
Dictionary
A dictionary is a collection of words in one or more specific languages, often listed alphabetically, with usage information, definitions, etymologies, phonetics, pronunciations, and other information; or a book of words in one language with their equivalents in another, also known as a lexicon...
of Kaskaskia Illinois-French terms, nearly 600 pages and 20,000 entries.
The Peoria migrated southwest into Missouri Territory
Missouri Territory
The Territory of Missouri was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from June 4, 1812 until August 10, 1821, when the southeastern portion of the territory was admitted to the Union as the State of Missouri.-History:...
after 1763. In 1818, the Treaty of Edwardsville included the cession of Peoria lands in Illinois to the United States. By the 1832 Treaty of Lewisville, they ceded Missouri
Missouri
Missouri is a US state located in the Midwestern United States, bordered by Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska. With a 2010 population of 5,988,927, Missouri is the 18th most populous state in the nation and the fifth most populous in the Midwest. It...
lands in exchange for land in Kansas
Kansas
Kansas is a US state located in the Midwestern United States. It is named after the Kansas River which flows through it, which in turn was named after the Kansa Native American tribe, which inhabited the area. The tribe's name is often said to mean "people of the wind" or "people of the south...
, near the Osage River
Osage River
The Osage River is a tributary of the Missouri River in central Missouri in the United States. The Osage River is one of the larger rivers in Missouri. The river drains a mostly rural area of . The watershed includes an area of east-central Kansas and a large portion of west-central and central...
.
Infectious disease
Infectious disease
Infectious diseases, also known as communicable diseases, contagious diseases or transmissible diseases comprise clinically evident illness resulting from the infection, presence and growth of pathogenic biological agents in an individual host organism...
, to which they had no natural immunity
Immunity (medical)
Immunity is a biological term that describes a state of having sufficient biological defenses to avoid infection, disease, or other unwanted biological invasion. Immunity involves both specific and non-specific components. The non-specific components act either as barriers or as eliminators of wide...
, and intertribal wars drastically reduced the tribe's numbers. Members of the Kaskaskia
Kaskaskia
The Kaskaskia were one of about a dozen cognate tribes that made up the Illiniwek Confederation or Illinois Confederation. Their longstanding homeland was in the Great Lakes region...
, Peoria, Piankeshaw
Piankeshaw
The Piankeshaw Indians were Native Americans, and members of the Miami Indians who lived apart from the rest of the Miami nation. They lived in an area that now includes western Indiana and Ohio, and were closely allied with the Wea Indians...
, and Wea
Wea
The Wea were a Miami-Illinois-speaking tribe originally located in western Indiana, closely related to the Miami. The name Wea is used today as the a shortened version of their many recorded names...
tribes formed a confederacy under the Peoria name. After the Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
, most of the confederated tribe signed the 1867 Omnibus Treaty. By this means, the US government purchased land from the Quapaw
Quapaw
The Quapaw people are a tribe of Native Americans who historically resided on the west side of the Mississippi River in what is now the state of Arkansas.They are federally recognized as the Quapaw Tribe of Indians.-Government:...
tribe and relocated the majority of the Peoria tribe to Indian Territory
Indian Territory
The Indian Territory, also known as the Indian Territories and the Indian Country, was land set aside within the United States for the settlement of American Indians...
, now part of Oklahoma.
Under the Dawes Act
Dawes Act
The Dawes Act, adopted by Congress in 1887, authorized the President of the United States to survey Indian tribal land and divide the land into allotments for individual Indians. The Act was named for its sponsor, Senator Henry L. Dawes of Massachusetts. The Dawes Act was amended in 1891 and again...
and Curtis Act of 1898
Curtis Act of 1898
The Curtis Act of 1898 was an amendment to the United States Dawes Act that brought about the allotment process of lands of the Five Civilized Tribes of Indian Territory: the Choctaw, Chickasaw, Muscogee, Cherokee, and Seminole...
, the US government attempted to make individual allotments of land to heads of families, to allow separate ownership and cultivation of land, and break up the common landholdings of the tribes. It was part of an effort to have the tribes assimilate to European-American ways. At the same time, they forced tribal governments to dismantle. In 1939, after passage of the Oklahoma Indian Welfare Act
Oklahoma Indian Welfare Act
The Oklahoma Indian Welfare Act of 1936, also known as the Thomas-Rogers Act, is a United States federal law that extended the US Indian Reorganization Act of 1934. It sought to return some form of tribal government to the many tribes in former Indian Territory...
, the tribe reorganized and re-established its traditional form of council government.
During the 1950s, the US government pursued a policy of Indian termination
Indian termination policy
Indian termination was the policy of the United States from the mid-1940s to the mid-1960s. The belief was that Native Americans would be better off if assimilated as individuals into mainstream American society. To that end, Congress proposed to end the special relationship between tribes and the...
to end its special relationship with tribes. It dissolved the Peoria tribal government, which lost federal recognition in 1959. Tribal members objected and began the process to regain federal recognition, which they achieved in 1978.
Language
The Peoria spoke a dialect of the Miami-Illinois language. The name "Peoria" derives from their autonym or name for themselves in the Illinois language, peewaareewa (modern pronunciation peewaalia). Originally it meant, "Comes carrying a pack on his back." No speakers of the Peoria language survive.Government
The tribe is based in Miami, OklahomaMiami, Oklahoma
Miami is a city in Ottawa County, Oklahoma, United States. As of 2009, the population estimate was 12,910. It is the county seat of Ottawa County. The city is named after the Miami tribe...
, and their tribal jurisdictional area is in Ottawa County
Ottawa County, Oklahoma
Ottawa County is a county located in the U.S. state of Oklahoma. As of 2000, the population was 33,194. Its county seat is Miami. It was named for the Ottawa Tribe of Oklahoma.Ottawa County was established in 1907.-Geography:...
. Of the 2,861 enrolled tribal members, only 764 live within the state of Oklahoma. John P. Froman is the tribe's elected Chief, currently serving a four-year term. The tribe issues its own vehicle tags and operates its own housing authority. The Peoria Tribes owns Peoria Ridge Golf Course, and two casinos. The estimated annual economic impact of the tribe is $50 million. Tribal businesses, the Peoria Gaming Center, Buffalo Run Casino and Hotel, and Joe's Outback are all located in Miami, Oklahoma.
Namesakes
- The city of Peoria, IllinoisPeoria, IllinoisPeoria is the largest city on the Illinois River and the county seat of Peoria County, Illinois, in the United States. It is named after the Peoria tribe. As of the 2010 census, the city was the seventh-most populated in Illinois, with a population of 115,007, and is the third-most populated...
and the surrounding Peoria CountyPeoria County, IllinoisPeoria County is a county located in the U.S. state of Illinois. According to the 2010 census, it has a population of 186,494, which is an increase of 1.7% from 183,433 in 2000. Its county seat is Peoria....
are named after the tribe which lived in that area. - The Peoria WarPeoria WarDuring the War of 1812, the Illinois Territory was the scene of fighting between Native Americans and United States soldiers and settlers.Tensions in the Illinois Territory between U.S. settlers and Native Americans were on the rise in the years before the War of 1812...
occurred in this area but is named for the town, as the tribe had already left for Missouri before this conflict occurred. - Peoria, OklahomaPeoria, OklahomaPeoria is a town in Ottawa County, Oklahoma, United States. The population was 141 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Peoria is located at .According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of , all of it land....
and Paola, KansasPaola, KansasPaola is a city in and the county seat of Miami County, Kansas, United States. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 5,602.-History:...
are named directly for the tribe. Many other places named Peoria and US Navy ships were named after the town in Illinois.
Notable Peoria people
- Ruthe Blalock JonesRuthe Blalock JonesRuthe Blalock Jones is an award-winning Delaware-Shawnee-Peoria painter and printmaker from Oklahoma.-Background:Ruthe Blalock Jones was born on June 8, 1939 in Claremore, Oklahoma. Her parents are Joe and Lucy Parks Blalock. Her tribal name is Chulundit.She earned an associates degree from Bacone...
(b. 1939), Delaware-Shawnee-Peoria artist and educator - Moscelyne LarkinMoscelyne LarkinMoscelyne Larkin is one of the "Five Moons", Native American ballerinas from Oklahoma to gain international fame in the 20th century. After dancing with the Original Ballet Russe and the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo, she and her husband settled in Tulsa, Oklahoma, where in 1956 they founded the...
(b. 1925), Peoria-Shawnee ballerina